


Saudade

by strangelystarstruck



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Anemic oc, Aromantic Asexual Natasha Romanov, Avengers Feels, Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Compliant, BAMF SHIELD Agents, Eventual Happy Ending, Everyone Has Issues, F/M, Fanboy Phil Coulson, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, Immortality, Minor Peggy Carter/Steve Rogers, Precious Peter Parker, Protective Steve Rogers, SHIELD, Science Experiments, Steve Rogers is Not a Virgin, Super Soldier Serum
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-06
Updated: 2019-06-07
Packaged: 2020-02-26 22:44:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 8,900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18726358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/strangelystarstruck/pseuds/strangelystarstruck
Summary: Charlotte Sarah Rogers was a lot like her father. Alarmingly so.She had the same attitude, the same recklessness, the same stubborness, and the same sicknesses.She was destined to die. No one expected she would live long because people with those ailments didn't make it long in the world.So naturally the first chance she had, she took.Injected with the same superhuman serum that her dad was, she stops her clock that was ticking down to her death.However, never aging and still having a majority of her problems was not what she wanted.She isolates herself and devotes herself to the work that her mentally unfit mother left behind.She knows her mother is going to die soon, leaving her alone.Little does she expect her father to make an appearance and change her life.





	1. Chapter 1

"I'm sorry miss, I have no idea what you're talking about," the scientist lied through his teeth.

Instead of doing the whole sweetheart polite approach, I just simply pulled out my clearance badge. "Top level security access granted by Director Carter."

It felt wrong calling her that. I was used to referring to her as mother, mom or Peg.

That was because I really never interacted with anyone outside of the family. I really never interacted with people who didn't know about my relation to her. 

She had kept me a secret, not wanting anyone to find out about the fling she had with my father. She wasn't married at the time, so there was no way she could claim me as her own. 

I understood. It was hard enough for her to get to a position where people actually respected her. Acknowledging me would ruin all that respect. 

He seemed a bit hesitant. "Why do you want to know?"

"I'm Charlotte Rogers. Daughter of Captain Rogers. I am your best chance in those secret experiments you are running. I want in." I said simply. 

He very obviously looked me up and down. "You know there is very high possibility these experiments will kill you." 

"Doc says I'll die by the time I am twenty anyway. I'll take that risk, sir." I shrugged at him, silently pleading at him to let me do this.

He looked at me again, considering. "Come with me, Miss Rogers." 

"Yes sir," I followed him into the lab that I had never been allowed in before. It was very sci-fi which I totally digged. 

"Let me get my team together. I'll ring them and then we can run a quick little blood test on you." The scientist, who I still hadn't pieced together a name for, said. 

I nodded, sitting down in the first chair I saw. My left leg was cramping severely. In my rush to take care of Millie, my little sister, I had forgotten to take all of my medicine. 

"Send Stark and Fritz in. It's about Project Protect." 

I had a sinking feeling in my stomach. There was no way that Howard Stark would let me go through with these experiments.

He was the closest thing I had to a genuine father. Much closer than Peggy's husband would ever be to me.

Daniel would never fully accept me. I was just a reminder that his wife wasn't as pure as she could be.

He was kind to me for sure but Howard was the one who treated me like his own child.

And like a father figure, he assumed he could control my life.

Speak of the devil and there he came.

"Kline, mind explaining why she's here?" Howard asked, after staring me down for a moment.

"That's Miss Rogers, daughter of Captain Rogers. She's the best genetic match we have to the Captain. And she just volunteered for our experiments." Kline explained.

Fritz grabbed some wet cloth and ran it over my arm. "Brilliant. If this works we can easily replicate the formula."

"And if not, we can make any adjustments that would be necessary," Kline completed the thought, walking over to get a needle for my blood test.

I shivered, hating needles. Lord almighty knows that I've had more contact with them than the average human being.

"Director Carter is personally invested in this girl. If it goes wrong, she'll have all of our heads." Howard said pointedly looking at me.

"Science is about taking risks Stark," Fritz pointed out.

Howard laid a hand on my shoulder. "I am aware Fritz. I simply do not want to take the risk with this girl."

"All due respect, Mr. Stark, look me in the eye and tell me that my father would not take this risk." I finally spoke up, knowing that I had a point he could not contend on.

He shook his head, not looking me in the eye. "Administer the blood test. I'll get to work on preparing the serum."

I had won. There was a chance for me to be healthy, for me to continue in my father's footsteps.

And I was finally able to take that chance, no matter what the cost.


	2. Chapter 2

I took a sip of my coffee, smiling at my mother.

I didn't want to be here but she didn't recognize anyone else. The doctor said her memory worked selectively. There would only be a few individuals that she would remember and she wouldn't even remember them fully.

"How's the agency treating you? Anyone causing you trouble?" Mom asked, sipping her drink as well.

"I've gotten a little bit of trouble but I handled it exactly as you told me and the trouble went away." I rubbed my hand over my sore leg muscles, massaging them, as I spoke.

"Brilliant. I'm proud of you Charlotte." She smiled at me.

"Thank you. I made friends with one of my coworkers. He's really sweet though he is rather obsessed with my dad so that's a bit awkward." I launched into a story, knowing that silence usually led to more confusion with her.

"Tell Steve that I send my best, alright? Make sure to bring up the fact he hasn't visited in ages."

I nodded even though Steve Rogers had been dead my entire life. "I will do that mum. But now I really gotta go. Work. You know how it goes."

She clasped my hand. "I love you Charlotte."

"I love you mother." I said before leaving the home as fast as possible.

I locked myself in my car. I felt tears prickling at my eyes.

I hated the home. I hated the fact she barely knew me. I hated the fact that she only knew me because of my curse. Never aging meant that I was the one who had to visit her.

It was very hard visiting someone who was the cleverest person you had every known and seeing them so confused.

I despised it with all of my being.

Plus there was the fact I wasn't the biggest fan of that sanitary smell. 90% of my life was spent in hospitals, I sure didn't want to spend the rest of it in somewhere that resembled one.

After my slight breakdown, I drove myself home.

Once home I poured myself a cup of iced coffee. It was my third one today, despite the fact that the doc said I should be off caffeine completely.

I would rather let my autoimmune disease kill me than give up caffeine. Somethings were worth dying for.

I then turned on my laptop, looking for any work emails.

There were a few.

Director Fury wanted me to hack Tony Stark, Hill wanted to double check her information on some astrophysicist somewhere out west, but the one that caught my eye was from Phil.

I opened it. He wanted me to Skype him, it was urgent business.

So after tying up my hair and popping a few pills that's what I did.

"Lottie. I need you to get to New York asap. The Director and I both want you there." Coulson said as soon as he answered. "Are those new glasses? They look nice."

I smiled at him, getting distracted. "They are, docs said they wanted a stronger prescription. They recommend me getting corrective surgery. I don't trust no weird laser beams touching my eyes though."

"I understand. Sometimes it's hard to trust in recent tech," he admitted.

I nodded, getting back on track. "What's the urgent business in New York? And how do you expect me to get there exactly?"

"The Director says only in person briefs, he doesn't know who's tapped our lines."

I crossed my arms, "No one has. I'm doing my job correctly, Phil."

"It's not an insult, so don't take it as one. You're one of our best members."  He amended, making sure he buttered me up like a biscuit.

"Sure sure. Anyway, how'd you expect me to get to New York? I can't exactly fly." I responded, pointing out the obvious.

He rubbed his head. "I forgot about your medical issues."

That would be nice being able to do that.

"I'll pick you up. It's only about a 4 hour drive!" He announced, looking awfully proud of himself.

"I'll expect you in 5 hours. How many days should I pack for?" I asked.

"Probably around a week. You can stay with me in my guest room until you want to leave. Don't forgot your medication."

I rolled my eyes. "Don't patronize me."

"I'm just checking up on you. Be ready to go. See you soon Lottie."

"See you," I ended the call.

I supposed I needed to get my things ready. After all, a mystery trip to New York was in my future.

And if I packed quick enough, I could get a look at that whole Stark case. Might be interesting.

Either way, my future was about to get a lot more complicated.


	3. Chapter 3

I looked at the system curiously. This programming was more complex than anything I had ever dealt with. I had been programming computers since the 60's but somehow Tony had managed to surprise me with something I didn't know.

The programming was written by an A.I who had been programmed in a language I had yet to learn.

Making the system a fortress.

I dialed up Fury, calling him as I finished packing all of my pills and supplements.

"Rogers," Fury said, there was no time for pleasantries with him.

"Director. There's no chance in hell I'm going to be able to mess with his system. Tony Stark has a fortress of solitude of a system. No one's hacking in unless they get it directly from the source." I reported.

"If someone could download the system from the source and bring it to you, would that work? For collecting information."

I pondered the question for a moment, "Yes sir but someone would need to download it from Stark's personal lab."

"We'll send our best undercover to retrieve information for you."

"Sir, what information are you trying to get a hold of?" I asked, hoping this wouldn't get me shut down. Fury was pretty strict on what I needed to know.

Fury sighed,"He's working on a new missile that enemies of Shield are trying to get their hands on. It's a potential security threat."

"Understood. Will I see you when I get in?"

"Yes. I imagine you will, Rogers." He said before ending the call.

I sat there, waiting for my ride. A quick look at the time confirmed I had enough time to make dinner.

I set some oil heating on the stove while I started preparing the prawns. Soon enough they were sizzling in the pan.

I had just put them on a plate to cool down when there was a knock on my door.

I opened it, to find Phil there.

"Be a gentleman and grab my suitcase will you? I made dinner, I'll pack it." I smiled at him.

"Oh yeah sure, anything you want miss." He grabbed my bag and took it out to the car.

I shook my head at him easily lifting it. I needed to work on my arms honestly. Start lifting or something. He was showing me up.

It was pretty easy to show up a fragile anemic teenager though.

I packed the food into one of my numerous tupperware containers I owned, swung my laptop bag over my shoulder and headed out. I made sure to lock my petite house before loading myself into the car.

"What's for dinner?" Coulson asked, looking over eagerly.

I rolled my eyes playfully. "Homemade beer-battered prawns with tartare sauce. Do you want some?"

He started driving. "Only if you've made extra. You need to keep your energy up."

"I made extra. I knew you were picking me up, of course I thought ahead," I said, pulling out the food.

He opened his mouth as I put a prawn in it.

We ate our dinner silently, both raised not to talk while eating. It was a few moments of silence before we finished. 

I sipped my coffee as he sighed loudly. 

"You're not supposed to have caffeine. It's in your file," he answered my unasked question. 

"Food alright?" I asked, avoiding his accusation. 

He nodded. "Delicious. Your cooking is always amazing, Lottie." 

"Glad to hear. Your driving is always..." I paused, not wanting to lie, "appreciated." 

"I am not a bad driver. I'll have you know the last car wreck I got into was in the 90's! And I wasn't technically even there," he protested. 

I laughed, "I'm sorry? You need to explain that."

"Is that really what you want me to tell you right now?" He asked,a tone of surprise in his voice. 

I shook my head. "No. I want a debriefing. Why are we going to New York? What's this urgent business? I'm never on site. I always work from home. Why is it so important that I be there in person?" 

"Remember when I took that secret trip to that base that doesn't exist?"

I nodded, begging him to go on. The curiosity was killing me.

"We found someone there. Your father." He said excitedly. 

I felt my heart drop. I had thought it'd be something exciting. It turns out they needed me for dead parent stuff. Probably had to take some dna from me so they could confirm it really was him. It stung just a tiny bit that Coulson was so excited about the corpse of my father. 

"Great. He was pronounced dead years ago, I don't understand why you need me." I hissed out, crossing my arms. 

"That's the thing Charlotte. He's not dead. Steve Rogers is alive." He practically beamed at me. 

"I'm sorry, what?!"


	4. Chapter 4

"I don't know." I said simply to the question. "I don't know if I want to do this."

"He's asleep. All it will be is going in there and seeing him. No confrontation. You'd get to meet your father," Phil urged me.

I glared at him. "Watching my father in a coma isn't exactly meeting him. It's just creepy. All of you constantly monitoring him? A fan watching my father sleep simply because he's in the position to do so? It's messed up."

"Miss Rogers, you must understand that what we're doing here is like a hospital. Hospitals monitor comatose patients, even the famous ones," Fury attempted to calm me down.

I turned to him. "I mean no disrespect sir, but why exactly is he not in a hospital? He's not an agent. He's not one of your collections. He's just a veteran who deserves his freedom."

"We believe it to be best for him that his privacy be kept. Being such an influential person, his condition would not be private in a normal hospital." Coulson explained.

I simply nodded, knowing that they would try to collect him anyway. A super soldier was one of SHIELD's favorite weapons. After all, there was a reason I was in it.

"Let me in." I said quietly.

The 'nurse' opened the door for me.

I entered. The room was obviously fake. The walls didn't look completely real because they weren't. It was also a poor imitation of a 1940's hospital. It just felt so wrong.

Not to mention the fact that there was a radio playing a ballgame she instantly recognized as one from 1941.

The minor problems in the set up helped distract me from the fact that my father was there.

I had seen pictures of him but it was different to actually see his face in person.

I had known him to be dead all my life, it was really weird to see him living and breathing.

I couldn't really believe it was him. After a certain part of assuming someone was dead, it didn't matter anymore. It just became the usual. Sure I'd wonder what it'd been like to have a father, but it never hurt.

But now it hurt.

That fact that he was alive made it hurt that I had never met him before this. It hurt that he was only a couple years older than I was physically speaking. It hurt that he wasn't there to grow old with my mother.

The fact that he was alive pointed out just how much I had missed him in my life.

I felt my eyes stinging so I rubbed them before leaving the room.

"The set is all wrong. And that's the wrong type of bra for her to wear in the costume." I gestured to the 'nurse'.

Fury nodded. "Noted. We did that on purpose. A sort of test for him to see his mental abilities."

I looked at him in disbelief, "He's not your science experiment, Director. It's immoral to test him like that or anyone who hasn't consented like that."

Fury was about to say something but I stopped him.

"Let me know when he's awake. I'll talk to you about that Stark thing. I'll be home for dinner Coulson." I said before leaving as quickly as possible.

No one tried to follow me, which I appreciated. All I wanted to do was slip away, maybe get some sight seeing done.

At least just clear my head so I wouldn't have to think about whatever complicated mess this was.

But of course, this was only the beginning.

Life would get so much more complicated.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> bit shorter chapter for today but we'll be getting into her properly meeting her father soon.   
> phase 1 is here y'all.


	5. Chapter 5

I laid down on the ground, panting heavily. I could feel my leg shaking and my head pounding.

This exercise fad I had picked up was going to be a lot harder than I had thought. I don't know what I had expected. My body shut down randomly, with running it would just shut down more.

I closed my eyes, trying to slow my breathing. Trying to control my heart rate.

My chest tightened up as if I was going to have an asthma attack. I knew I didn't have asthma anymore but doubt settled in my brain. Maybe it really wasn't cured. Maybe nothing about me was cured. The scoliosis? Maybe it was back. Maybe the asthma was back. Maybe the cancer was back.

"Miss, are you okay?" A voice shook me out of the thoughts I was having.

I opened my eyes, noticing that the person was a lot closer to me than I had originally thought.

I nodded. "Yes, thank you sir."

He looked at me curiously. "Anything I can help you with?"

"No." I said sharply. "I can handle myself."

He gestured to the ground next to me. "Mind if I join you?"

I shrugged, still panting a bit. "Sure."

"How's it going?"

I raised my eyebrow at him curiously. What was his angle here? Why was he checking up on me?

"Fine. I just pushed myself a bit today. Forgot that I'm pretty weak," I laughed slightly, still confused about him.

"It's none of my business but shouldn't you be in school?" The stranger asked, acting friendly.

I grinned, "Considering I'm 20 and not in college, no?"

"Oh my bad, I totally read you as a highschooler." He laughed, the awkwardness disappearing.

He had thought I was just another kid ditching school. No wonder he was so concerned. A dying kid is enough to worry any and everyone.

"Believe me, I get that all the time. Everyone thinks I'm younger than I am," I laughed internally at my own joke.

"I have the opposite problem. Everyone thinks I'm older. I'm only 25 believe it or not." He remarked conversationally.

"I don't know man, that's pretty ancient." I finally managed to get my breathing controlled.

He rolled his eyes with a smile. "True. I'm Sam Wilson by the way."

"Charlotte Carter at your service."

"I'll hold you to that," he teased.

I sighed. "You sure? I'm pretty sickly so I'm not really a good person to have the servitude of."

"Contagious sick or? Cause if it's not contagious, 100% gonna hold you to that, Charlotte." Sam looked concerned.

"Tempted to say contagious just to get out of servitude," I smirked.

"Lying makes you go to hell," he responded.

"Fine fine, you win. Don't get used to that, Sam." I rolled my eyes. "I'm anemic among other things. Nothing contagious."

He snorted before scrunching his face up in confusion. "No offense but why the hell were you running if you're anemic? Isn't that not good?"

"Full offense taken. I'm anemic not dead. I just pushed myself too much, I can exercise as long as I take my supplements and not do too much," I snapped at him.

He put his hands up, "You should watch that. Maybe have someone around to force you to not overexert yourself."

"No one can force me to do anything."

"You're really stubborn, has anyone mentioned that?" Sam asked.

"It runs in my family. My dad is apparently super stubborn as well," I laughed, recalling the countless times Stark had called me stubborn.

It was hard to keep a smile on my face when I recalled the fact that Howard Stark was long dead.

"Well sounds like a tough job, gonna need one patient person to take it."

"None of my friends live here, they're all in New York. It's okay though, I don't need anyone to keep track of me," I responded.

"Hand over the phone. I'm putting my number in. You call me anytime you want to go running. I don't have anything better to do."

"You get all the girl's numbers this way?" I asked, handing him my phone.

He was a charismatic person. Easy to be around, easy to be friends with. It felt nice being around him. I didn't have to talk about anyone who was comatose or dead. Which seemed to be how most of my conversations went recently.

He typed in his information and handed it back. "Only the diseased marathon runners."

We settled back into a comfortable silence which was quickly broken.

A car pulled up on the street nearby. A window rolled down and a face I barely knew, but still recognized, stuck out of it.

"Ready for your shift, Charlotte?"

"Romanoff," I muttered before turning apologetically to Sam. "I gotta go. Catch you sometime?"

"Yeah sure." He shook his head. "Just go run off on me, Charlie."

I laughed, trying to get up. My legs still were cramping.

Sam silently helped me up and handed me my bag, thankfully not making a big deal out of it.

Once I got into the car and the windows were rolled down, I spoke.

"What's going on, Agent Romanoff? All my work is done over email." I said suspiciously.

"Director Fury requires you to move immediately to New York. We have an apartment for you, I was sent to help you pack and drive you over. Since we're working together on the Stark mission, he specifically sent me." She said almost robotically. It was as if she had no emotions at all.

Some SHIELD agents were like that and I would never get used to that.

"I'm sorry? I'm moving?" I crossed my arms.

"Yes." She responded simply.


	6. Chapter 6

"We're really doing this? He's been through hell and back." Guilt was starting to build up in me.

It felt wrong to mess with Tony Stark. She had been so close to Howard plus the whole kidnapping thing he had went through.

"SHIELD is always looking for assets or issues to be aware of. We just need to figure out which one he is. We need you, you're the best computer person we've got Lottie," Phil pleaded with me to agree.

"Fine. I'm just a little tired of being pushed into everything nowadays. Everything I've done recently has been stuff I never wanted to do," I grumbled, crossing my arms.

He sighed. "This is about the New York thing, isn't it?"

"My mother is dying alone in D.C and I'm not there. She doesn't understand that I had to move, she only knows that I haven't shown up to our last appointment. I'm her only child she recognizes," I snapped at him.

"Anytime you want to go see her, I'll drive you. Unless I'm on a mission. That's a promise."  Phil reassured me.

"Fine, but you better not spring anything else on me. I'm going to the gym, are you coming over for dinner?"

He nodded. "I am, is it okay if I bring Agent Barton? He's having a tough time adapting to living in New York too."

"Fine. I'll make more food then." I agreed.

I had personally never met Agent Barton but if it was someone Phil trusted, I trusted them too. I trusted Coulson with my life, even if I was a bit annoyed with him at the moment.

"Bye." I ended the video chat, grabbing my gym bag.

I had been going to the gym consistently since I had moved. I had figured out that I could work out my arms no problem. So I was becoming a self taught master of boxing.

At least it meant that I could defend myself somewhat if a situation called for it. It meant that I was using my superhuman abilities in a way besides not dying.

I was stronger than normal people when my sicknesses didn't limit me. It was ironic almost. The weakest person was given the power to be the strongest.

But I hadn't figured out how to access those powers until boxing.

I got to the gym fairly quickly, putting my stuff in my corner near the bag I always worked at.

I got to punching, releasing some of the tension I had been feeling.

I heard the door swing open and someone enter.

I looked up, meeting the eyes of my father.

I almost fell over in shock. No one had told me he was awake. It was weird seeing him in person. Seeing him towering and moving around. Seeing him in a state where he actually seemed alive.

It made me feel pretty inadequate as well to be honest. He was so big. My 5'3" felt absolutely tiny around him. Not to mention his muscles were insane.

He nodded at me before setting his stuff at the bag next to mine.

I awkwardly smiled as if he was a stranger passing me in the street and not my biological father.

I punched harder, going to town on the bag. More anger and frustration was building up in me. It pissed me off that he was awake and no one had told me.

Coulson would be hearing my complaint at dinner tonight. I didn't care that we'd have an audience.

My bag burst open, signalling it was time for a new bag. I bought every bag I destroyed so the gym just let me wreck them utterly and completely.

I leaned closer, stretching myself to try and reach that clip to undo it. My leg of course decided to cramp as soon as I was in that position.

Steve Rogers moved closer, unlatched it and put the old one on the ground.

I blushed. "I had it handled for your information."

"Yes ma'am," he nodded, biting back a smile.

I rolled my eyes, putting the new bag on myself even though I struggled with it. I glared at him when he tried to help, making him back up.

"Those damn bags are too tall. It's discrimination," I muttered, breaking in my new bag.

I noticed him staring at me, which was weird. He couldn't have recognized me. He didn't even know that I existed. I should've been the one staring at him by all counts.

"What?" I raised an eyebrow at him, crossing my arms.

"I am sorry, I've just never heard a lady curse before." He smiled at me.

"It isn't the '40's anymore. Girls are allowed to curse in public," I remarked, not thinking anything of it.

His demeanor changed and I realized I'd messed up.

"You work for SHIELD don't you?" He appeared guarded now.

"I'm not here on behalf of SHIELD. I go here regularly."

"How do you know who I am?" He asked.

It hurt to have him interrogate me. Especially since I had no idea how to respond. Do I just be like 'surprise I'm your daughter'? Or did I blame it on history books? I had no idea what to do.

"Peggy Carter raised me." I responded with the first thing I thought of.

He softened almost immediately. "Is she..."

I nodded, "She's alive. She has dementia."

"Where?" He asked, his eyes tearing up.

"Washington D.C is where her home is. I can go with you if you want." I offered.

"I have to think about it." He said, zoning out.

"You have a phone?"

He nodded, pulling out this small flip phone.

I took it from him, typing in my information. I then handed it back to him.

"Call me when you decide." I said simply.

"Thank you Miss" he paused waiting for a name.

"Call me Charlotte."


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> next chapter we get into Iron Man 2 hope y'all are ready for this

I stepped into my apartment, finding the two men there already.

I glanced over at Agent Barton. He was in his 30's probably. He was definitely more relaxed than some of the other field agents I had met.

"I haven't even started dinner yet. Why are you here so early?" I asked, keeping my tone light even though I was pissed at Coulson.

"Clint didn't have any assignments to do and I figured we could hang out here Charlotte," Phil responded casually.

Barton looked up at me. "Hope I'm not intruding."

"It's fine. I'll get started on food then." I sighed going into the kitchen.

I had started pulling out ingredients trying to figure out what to do when I noticed Barton had entered the kitchen.

He had seemingly appeared silently. Damn spies.

"Could I help with dinner?" He asked.

It was interesting. He had read me and knew that asking if I needed help would be useless. He was good.

I raised an eyebrow. "I mean I don't need it but if you want to go ahead."

He nodded. "I want to yeah."

"Grab the aluminum foil, we're making poached salmon." I got to work pulling out a pan for the dish.

I glanced over at him, he had ripped off perfect sized sheets. Impressive.

"You cook often?" I asked, trying to make some small talk with him.

I wanted to get to know him. Perhaps it was the fact I was raised in the 50's but I didn't feel like a good hostess unless I knew about my guests.

"Not since I've moved here but before that yeah. I don't like cooking alone."

I looked up at him. "How many kids do you have?"

He seemed startled, "Two. Lila and Cooper."

It was a total guess but apparently I had guessed correctly. I should apply for an interrogation position with my new found powers.

"Nice. You seem like a good dad," I grabbed the salmon and got to work.

He smiled slightly. "Thanks. I'm not though. I'm barely home, not to mention I can't really talk about them because my life is so dangerous. I don't want them getting hurt."

"Why are you telling me? 3 pats of butter please."

He grabbed the butter for me and cut it into those slivers. "I can take you out easily if you try something."

"Oh," I was startled by that. "I expected that maybe you would say I was trustworthy. Not that I was an easy target."

"I trust you. I know you're smart enough to not do anything to hurt my kids," Clint grinned at me. "I'm kidding. You're a kid yourself, you're not gonna hurt anyone."

"I'm not a kid," I protested. "I'll have you know that I've been alive longer than you."

"Wow. You moisturize?" He put a pat of butter on each of the fish.

I laughed, following behind him to add finishing touches to the fish. "Try not aging. It works wonders for the skin."

"Oh yeah no big deal I'll just stop aging." He rolled his eyes, still smiling.

"That'd be weird for your kids. Don't do that to them," I said quietly.

I knew he read into that. That's what agents did. Hopefully, he'd just forget about whatever he assumed about me from my words.

Damn spies.

"How old are you?" He asked suddenly.

"20." I responded simply.

"How long have you been 20?"

I stared at him. "Are you quoting Twilight?"

He shrugged. "Maybe. Didn't think you'd catch on to be honest."

"Did you read the books?"

"I did yeah."

"Why? Is your wife into them?" I interrogated him.

"Nah. Laura hates them. She prefers thrillers. I read them on my own." He preheated the oven, turning almost instantly back to where he was facing me.

I smirked.

"It's the 21st century, don't come at me for enjoying a book with fricking vampires and werewolves in it. I'm acknowledging my feminine side Charlotte." He whined.

"Geez okay. Back in my day, guys were expected to ignore their feminine side. Cut me some slack." I rolled my eyes.

"Slack has been cut," he said, putting the salmon in the oven.

"Good?" I smiled.

"You're going undercover soon. Have you ever been undercover?" He asked, changing the subject.

I wondered how he knew but didn't let it bother me.

"Not really no."

"Maybe I could give you some pointers kid," Clint offered.

"Don't call me kid and we've got a deal," I laughed heading out into the living room.

"Sounds good," he laughed as well.

My tone changed instantly as I laid eyes on Phil. The anger came back.

"Oh Coulson! You'll never believe who I say today." I stormed up to him.

Clint stayed in the kitchen.


	8. Chapter 8

"Who exactly are you?" The unmistakable voice of Tony Stark rang out.

I turned, putting on my awestruck teenager face. "Carmen Hooper, sir. I'm one of your interns Mr. Stark."

I let my heartbeat start to race as I put one hand on my neck and bobbed slightly. It wasn't hard to fake nerves as I had so many of them at the moment. I was just nervous for a different reason than I was pretending.

He stared at me for a moment before offering a smile to me, "Good. See I was looking for an intern to help me with this project. I think you might be the one."

I was in no position to deny that offer. Going with him and helping him seemed to be my best option. A truly starstruck intern would follow him anywhere. Especially with the 'charm' he practically oozed.

I nodded, smiling at him in return. "Really?"

"Sure kid. Come," he snapped his fingers, leaving the office I was currently at.

I followed him, not daring to speak. It was absolutely insane being there with him. The last time I had interacted with him was at Howard's funeral. I never thought I would see him again after that. But here we were.

I was undercover and he was my boss.

It was weird.

We entered his lab and the door automatically sealed behind him.

I immediately scanned the room looking for a way out. It looked like I was trapped. I had a bad feeling about this.

"Jarvis? Temporarily disable recording in here." Tony said to someone who wasn't in the room.

I looked around in confusion, I thought Howard's butler was dead.

"Done. Anything else you want from me, sir?" An electronic voice said. Of course. His A.I.

"Nah that's good." He said before turning towards me. "You look good. Haven't aged a day. What's your secret?"

This was the hardest decision of my life. Did I play dumb or fire back a witty comeback?

"I have no idea what you're talking about Mr. Stark," I tilted my head slightly in confusion, hoping I was a better actor than I had been in undercover rehearsal.

He rolled his eyes. "Drop the crap. And don't call me that. That was my father. You didn't even call him that though, did you? I think you were on a first name basis with him, Charlotte."

My heart started accelerating for real now. "That's not my name, sir."

Tony sighed, "I'm not an idiot. Actually, I'm kind of known for being the opposite believe it or not. So tell me. What's your secret?"

"I moisturize." I crossed my arms, desperately trying to think of how to come clean without actually coming clean.

"Unlike you, apparently, I don't have all the time in the world," he retorted.

I looked at him curiously. It could've been just a remark but it also could be something more. And the way his eyes appeared sunken into his skull, it was fairly obvious to me that he was dying.

I had been dying once. I knew how one behaved about it. I knew that behind the stubborn reluctance to be weak he was scared.

Or rather I guessed that he was scared.

"Experiment gone wrong. Meant to stop me from dying of my diseases. Instead stopped me from aging."

He raised his eyebrow as he moved closer to me. "Interesting. My wager is that my father experimented on you."

I nodded, puzzled how he figured it out, "He was experimenting with super soldier serum and I had nothing to lose. He never wanted to experiment on me but I sort of forced him to."

"Explains why he cared so damn much about you. Thought he maybe had a heart but no. Guilt." Tony grabbed my wrist. "Super serum huh? Sucks that he messed up, you could be a hero."

"I just want to live a normal life. That's why I'm here Tony."

He nodded in understanding, "So you came to me? To be an intern?"

"It's a job. And I need something mentally stimulating otherwise I might die of boredom," I shrugged.

"Well test tube, I guarantee that you'll have a job here for a bit. Can't guarantee anything long term though," he didn't look at me.

"Why not brainiac? Can't stand the sight of me for too long?" I joked, trying to force him to confirm my hypothesis.

He rolled his eyes. "Never call me brainiac again."

"I just thought we were doing nicknames, my bad." I put my hands up in mock surrender.

"I do the nicknames. You don't. I don't like you trying to be creative. So don't." He smirked at me.

"Okay fine. I won't do that again boss man."

"Good. Get back to work, I'm not paying you to slack around. Let me know if you want anything more challenging." The locked door slid up.

"Okay. Stop dying alright?" I said before slipping away, ignoring his inevitable confusion.

I was free to continue operating here and I knew how to get down to his personal lab.

Today had been a very good day, to say the least.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we're successfully into Iron Man 2.   
> There'll be another update coming soon and then I'm taking some time off so I can do summer school and ACT prep.


	9. Chapter 9

"I can't believe it. He's even smarter than Howard," I remarked, sitting on the countertop.

"Romanoff said in her report that his character flaws were too great. He'd be a liability to SHIELD if we took him on," Phil looked at me. "Get off the counter. This isn't our house."

I hopped down, ignoring how my leg buckled slightly under me, "Don't hire him on as an Avenger then. Have him in my position. He can do everything I do but better. And I thought it was our house."

"He's barely smarter than you, and you're easier to deal with. Iron Man is what we want, we don't need another genius. We're borrowing it for a few days. It's not ours." Phil rummaged through the cabinet.

I sighed, "It still doesn't feel right to me that Fury told Tony to his face that he wasn't worthy of being an Avenger. How do you borrow a house?"

"Stark'll get over it. Plus it's done, we can't go back in time. Time travel is fake. By asking nicely and having connections." Phil pulled out my pain medication and tossed it to me.

I miraculously caught it. "Time travel could be real, the universe is a mystery to most including you Phil. Also, it sounds like you killed someone for this house. Did you?"

"Saying time travel could be real is like saying magic is real." He smiled at me, "I would never kill someone."

I raised an eyebrow. "What exactly do you think that hammer is then? You don't actually think it's a satellite, do you? Does that mean you sent Clint to kill someone?"

"We've had it in custody for only a couple of hours. All we know is that it's connected to Jane Foster's research. And no. It doesn't mean that. There's an app," Phil handed me a glass of water.

I glared at him, "I've looked through that research. This doesn't have a scientific explanation. An app? To borrow houses? People these days."

Phil shrugged."We're figuring it out. Take your pills so we can go already. I'm in charge of operations so naturally, I need to be there tonight."

"Go get my laptop, will you? I want to compare notes when we're there." I put the drugs in my body, taking a sip of water after.

He headed into the living room with a nod. I could hear him hollering for 'Hawkeye' which I had found out was Clint's superhero name.

We both had been referring to him as only that for the entire trip so far. I was surprised he didn't kill us on the 34-hour drive over honestly.

I headed to the car being joined by Phil and Clint, who had managed to carry three large pizza boxes, two quarts of ice cream and a jumbo bag of Doritos in one hand.

"That's quite the juggling act. You could run away to the circus with that," I rolled my eyes, snatching the Doritos from him as soon as he entered the car.

He grinned, "Been there, done that."

Before I could blink, he had taken the Doritos back.

The car ride was about twenty minutes which consisted of arm wrestling, loud '90s pop music, Phil throwing the Doritos out of the window and Clint retrieving them by jumping out of the car.

Even though I did not successfully get the chips I did end up with all of the ice cream which was almost as good.

Analyzing the 'satellite' was difficult with the obnoxiously loud rain. So instead I turned my focus to the security cameras' feed.

"Foster is here. She didn't bring her intern though. She brought that person she took to the hospital. Look," I pointed her out to Phil while pulling up the hospital records with my other hand.

"I want to see what they'll do. Hawkeye, be prepared to get to a high vantage spot." Phil ordered, making sure to say it into his walkie-talkie this time.

"We have security at the entrance. I doubt they'll do much," I scanned the file I had accessed. "'Thor' could be a bit of a wildcard. Apparently, he attacked the nurses."

Phil nodded in acknowledgment, "Barton are you reading me?"

"Yes, sir," Clint responded. "It's just my pizza's gonna get soggy if I have to go outside in this rain."

"Don't take your pizza outside then, idiot," I responded, rolling my eyes even though he couldn't see me.

"Name calling are we? That's bullying," Clint whined.

I was about to retort when movement caught my eyes. "Foster is hiding there but Thor is entering the facility."

Several security guards announced the different sections had been breached.

"I need eyes up high, with a gun." Phil gave Barton his signal.

"Hawkeye never uses a gun, I doubt he will now," I smirked, trying to get a clearer visual on what was going on.

"He might need to. This Thor guy is tearing through every agent we have," Phil remarked.

I stood up, watching the entrance to the room we were in. "If a caffeinated intern can take him down via taser I'm sure we can figure it out."

Phil didn't respond and instead hurried out, heading towards the main lab.

I didn't follow him, instead heading out towards the threat. I knew I could take him down, my arms had grown pretty powerful.

"You want me to slow him down, sir? Or are you sending in more guys for him to beat up?" I could practically see the smirk on Clint's face when he said that.

"I'll let you know," Phil responded.

I rounded a corner, locking eyes with Thor. Okay so maybe he was a bit intimidating. But I didn't care.

I launched myself at him, punching him squarely in the face.

He winced in pain but simply picked me up and threw me out of the facility.

I landed in the mud, right under Barton's crane.

I groaned before just collapsing completely into the mud.

"He threw Charlotte. She's alive, not sure if she's conscious though." Clint announced.

"Oh god. Did she attack him? Or was in unprovoked?" Phil sounded concerned.

Before Clint could respond I did.

"I punched him in the face," I said, weakly but proudly.

"Got a visual on him. Looks like he's bleeding. I think she broke his nose. Which is impressive but also extremely idiotic." Clint commentated.

Phil simply sighed in response.

It was silent for a moment and I pushed myself into a sitting position. The rain washing off some of the mud on my face and making me feel slightly better.

"Better call it Coulson. I'm starting to root for this guy." Clint remarked.

"Even after he threw me?" I asked, putting on a mock offended tone.

"Especially after he threw you. You hitting that dirt really made my day."

I flipped him off, knowing he would see that.

A chuckle was all the response I got from that.

I could see Thor entering the area I was in now. I instinctively flinched but he wasn't heading towards me. He was heading towards the hammer.

"Do you think he can lift it?" I asked, getting no response from either Phil or Clint.

They were probably also watching intensely.

"Last chance," Clint muttered.

"Wait. I want to see this," Coulson responded.

Thor grabbed the hammer, not being able to lift it like the rest of us. He then started yelling like a madman.

I scooched away, not wanting to be near him.

"Take the shot," Phil said simply, almost as if he was disappointed.

Thor hit the ground, unconscious and I headed inside.

Hoping that with preparing for interrogation Phil would forget to give me the lecture of a lifetime.

Unfortunately, that was not the case.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> one more Thor chapter and then we get into Avengers  
> (also apparently I'm an idiot and Iron Man 2 happens before Cap wakes up but it's fine)


	10. Chapter 10

"I have a theory," I announced to Barton.

We were sitting in the backseat of Phil's car as he went to deal with official SHIELD business. I had gotten in severe trouble with him for attacking 'Donald' so Clint was babysitting me.

Which basically meant we were stuck together for several hours that neither of us could escape from.

"Shoot," he crossed his arms, wondering what on earth I was possibly going to say.

I grinned, "Thor isn't human."

"Elaborate," Clint raised an eyebrow.

I was about to explain my hypothesis when he suddenly grabbed my hand. Next thing I knew he was leaping through the window and pulling me out of the car.

I could feel shards of glass cut my skin and my leg starting to cramp from the running.

We were a short distance away from the car when I got an explanation of what was happening.

The car we had been in exploded into a fiery mess.

I stared at it in disbelief before Clint pulled me even further away.

A flaming piece of shrapnel hit where we had just been standing.

"We need to leave. Turns out that's a death fire robot and I don't like being around death fire robots. Just a general rule of mine," he muttered, his face completely calm.

I couldn't breathe. I felt my chest tighten up.

This was real.

There was a genuine car-exploding murderous robot type thing right in front of me.

I didn't understand how everyone could be so calm. It didn't make sense. Did they not see the giant fire machine that tried to kill me and Clint? Or was this just another day in the life of a field agent?

This was why I stayed at home.

"Barton! Take Charlotte, go evacuate the civilians. We'll handle the situation," Coulson ordered, patting me on the back as he passed by.

"Charlie. Eyes on me," Clint ordered.

I looked at him, still struggling to breathe.

"Can you walk? We need to go," he wrapped an arm around me.

I nodded in response, "Aye aye Hawkeye."

He rolled his eyes, a grin forming on his face anyway. "Good. You head into town, I'll work on the outskirts."

I nodded again, running towards the town. I reached it faster than I thought I would, even though my leg was protesting heavily.

Foster, Intern, Selvig, and Thor were already evacuating civilians. I fell in line next to them wordlessly.

"You should really leave town. It's dangerous" Taser girl remarked to me.

I responded simply, "No can do miss. This is my job. If anyone should go it's you and your scientist buddies."

Foster turned to me in a moment of realization, "You stole my research!"

"Yes ma'am," I turned to Thor. "Your friends strong enough to take it down?"

He shook his head, watching the battle carefully. "They are not."

He then proceeded to launch himself into battle.

I turned my focus to one of the nearby burning buildings and started climbing it.

My body was sweating and I felt my chest fill up with ash. I managed to get inside though, dodging the falling piles of rubble.

I was greeted by a man trembling in fear. His eyes were unfocused, his breathing unsteady.

"Sir. Eyes on me," I said gently, still making sure he would hear me though.

He turned to me silently.

"Can you walk?"

He nodded.

I wrapped an arm around him and rushed down the stairs, practically dragging him along.

I impulsively threw him out of the house once we reached the door as I heard a creaking noise.

Everything collapsed around me. It was dark. I could hear the crackling noise of the fire but I couldn't feel anything. My body felt numb.

It took me a moment to realize that the fact that I couldn't feel the heat of the fire meant that it was overwhelmingly hot. Which typically wasn't good.

I clawed desperately, trying to force myself out of this situation I was in.

I finally managed to get myself out. Crawling until my legs were free.

I gasped, breathing in the fresh air. I coughed several times before taking in my surroundings.

The robot was destroyed and Thor had changed clothes? He was now wearing a suit of armor and a red cape.

I closed my eyes and reopened them

The costume change had really happened. Interesting. Weird priorities for being in a battle but you know good on him.

He was also wielding the hammer I had watched him fail to pick up. Which was interesting.

Maybe it was linked to his emotional behavior, prohibiting him from using it when he was angry.

Like a reverse Hulk.

Noticing Phil approaching them, I got on my feet.

My legs were shaking a bit and I did feel like death but I still got up. The job wasn't finished.

I would definitely be taking a bath and a long ass nap when we got to the house.

"Excuse me," Coulson called out approaching Thor. "Donald, I don't think you've been completely honest with me."

Thor stared directly at Phil, "Know this son of Coul, you and I, we fight for the same cause, the protection of this world."

Barton intercepted me at this point, handing me a makeup wipe. I knew he'd inspect me for injuries later but he knew me too well to try and stop me from being a part of this conversation.

I cleaned up my face before heading closer in.

"From this point forward you can count me as your ally." Thor paused, moving closer to Foster. "If you return the items you have taken from Jane."

"Stolen," Jane remarked.

"Borrowed," Phil automatically corrected.

"Stolen," I corrected.

Phil turned to me, analyzing me for a moment before turning back to Foster. "Of course you can have your equipment back. You're gonna need it to continue your research."

"Would you like to see the bridge I spoke of?" Thor turned to Jane.

"Uh, sure?" She responded.

The next thing we knew they had launched into the sky.

"Wait I need to debrief you," Phil sighed as they left.

The cosplayers started heading over to the site, having no issue with running.

Selvig and Intern turned to us.

"Can we get a ride?" Intern asked me, raising an eyebrow.

"Sir?' I turned to Coulson who nodded. He would most likely use this opportunity to make sure that he could debrief these two.

Intern grinned at me. "Cool. Point me to a car."

 


End file.
